FREESKI:

Ambühl wins, Canada's Houle 3rd in Budapest Fridge Festival

Nov. 20, 2010 — Atomic 

Autumn has been the season for inner-city big air events for almost a decade, but this year saw a true premier. Budapest hosted the first major freeski event in Eastern Europe with the Fridge Festival last weekend. Sixteen international top riders gathered in the Hungarian capitol to battle it out on a 34-meter high artificial ramp.

The unusually mild weather was welcomed by the tens of thousands of spectators but presented a tough challenge for the event organizers. It took many hours of preparation before the final could start on Saturday with a simple best-of-two-runs format. However, the conditions didn’t stop the riders throwing yet another double cork fest. An enthusiastic crowd witnessed great performances by all of the athletes, who were from 11 different countries, proving once more that freeskiing is a truly international sport. Elias Ambühl set the pace early in the qualification with a massive double corked 1080 mute-nose. Norway’s PK Hunder and JF Houle from Canada followed suit to complete the super final of the top three.

In the super final, Houle raised the standards with a big double cork 1260 Japan. Hunder answered with a poked double cork 1080 nose-mute to take the lead, but no one could touch Ambühl on Saturday. The young Swiss tweaked his double cork 1080 nose-mute beyond the limits and landed perfectly at the bottom of the huge ramp. There was no doubt about the winner. Of course, Ambühl was stoked: “The weekend couldn’t have been any better. Now I am looking forward to the King Of Style in Stockholm and the Sweet Rumble in Trysil.” With his first victory at an inner-city big air under his belt, Ambühl is more than ready for the upcoming contest season on proper snow.  S-Magazine